About “Kim”

This is hands down Eminem’s most controversial song. That has overshadowed much of its nuance.

It’s tough to look past the graphic violence. Most people assume this is an angry revenge fantasy. Eminem verbalizing what he would do to his ex-wife if he could get away with it.

That’s a huge part of what’s going on. The rage is authentic. But as with much of Eminem’s art, you can’t take it at face value. What he’s really trying to communicate comes out in, e.g.: Oh my God, I love you. It’s a strangled scream.

As Em wrote in Angry Blonde:
This little media favorite was actually the first official song that I wrote for the album. I had to complete it back in 98, when the first album was done. I wrote this song when Kim and I weren’t together. We were broken up at the time. This was the end of 98. I remember I was watching a movie one day that inspired me to write a love song, but I didn’t want to make a corny love song. It had to be some bugged-out shit. Though I don’t remember what movie it was, I do remember feeling the frustration of us breaking up and having a daughter all in the mix. I really wanted to pour my heart out, but yet I wanted to scream. So the same day I went to the flick, I went back to the studio and once again walked into a session with the perfect beat already playing. Surprisingly enough “Kim” was the only track on the album that I had nothing to do with in terms of production. FBT created that track and they had it already for me in the studio. When I started writing the song I thought that maybe I could tie it into “‘97 Bonnie and Clyde”. So I decided to make it a prequel. You never would’ve thought but I played it for her once we started talking. I asked her to tell me what she thought of it. I remember my dumb-ass saying “I know this is a fucked-up song but it shows how much I care about you. To even think about you this much. To even put you in a song like this.” I did the vocals in one take. The mood I wanted to capture was that of an argument that me and her would have, and judging from the attention the media has given this song, you can see that’s exactly what I did… and then some.

Per Rolling Stone:
Em has played [this song] for [Kim] already and claims that now she is truly convinced that he is insane. “If I was her, I would have ran when I heard that shit,” [Dr.] Dre says. “It’s over the top — the whole song is him screaming. It’s good, though. Kim gives him a concept.”

This track was deemed too explicit for the clean version of the album, and was replaced with a South Park-themed track titled “The Kids”

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